Weight loss is a side effect of fitness. Thank you for visiting and reading. Please feel free to comment, I don't answer very often because I have had my say, and the comments are for you to have yours. Just remember, even if we disagree, I don't require you to be wrong, for me to be correct in my thinking!

Monthly Archives: January 2011

Is it possible that misinformation about health and wellness may have unforeseen, negative influences on the health and well-being of the nation’s children?

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Rush has recently made a mockery of the death of fitness guru Jack LaLanne. Through his sarcasm could he influence parents who listen to his program to neglect the proper fitness of their children?

I don’t give Rush, or for that matter political talk radio in general, a lot of credit for influencing the American people. If Rush actually had as much influence as he believed, then Bill Clinton and Barack Obama would never have been elected president. However, with that said, there are people who do listen and they take, as justification for their own weakness, lack of discipline and laziness, points that Rush Limbaugh hammers home.

I don’t understand why political talk show hosts even get into this, a subject they have no understanding of whatsoever.

In addition to national hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh, there are contributions being made to elevating obesity rates occurring on the local level?

WILK’s Steve Corbett promotes his eating and exercise habits as the proper means to good health. However, if you listen closely, you will discover that his eating is counter productive to a healthy lifestyle and his exercise methodology will fail to produce tangible fitness results. He spouts mainstream misinformation that is being disproved almost daily. What is even worse than the inaccuracies, is that this self-proclaimed paragon of all things healthy, will take money to promote unhealthy foods. His voice can hear be heard passionately pushing carbohydrate and sugar laden junk foods that are adding to our children’s rising obesity rates.

What is the justification for such over-the-top advocacy? Nothing more than sponsors willing to pay a few extra dollars to have Steve Corbett’s voice associated with their product.

So, if advertisers think these folks are influential, perhaps they are.

If so, what is the result?

Could celebrities, not involved in the health and fitness industry, at all levels, locally, nationally and even globally, through their attitudes and endorsements, be contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic?

I would tend to think not, but is it something to ponder.

Moreover, if a person of renown claims to have influence — do they have responsibility for their opinion? Do they have responsibility, even if that opinion is based on invalid hypotheses and information?

If someone claims, during their radio program, that they take care of their health, does that person have a responsibility not to promote, for profit, those products that can have ill effects on good health and promote both childhood and adult obesity?

To quote Arsenio Hall; these are “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…”

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Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is the author of the life changing book,A Life Beyond Weight Loss. He is available to appear on any talk radio, internet podcast or television outlet.

Dr. Joe Leonardi also will come and speak to your group; to learn more about his motivational speaking fees and availability contact him at docjoeleonardi@betterlifeseminars.com and check out his website www.betterlifeseminars.com.

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************The information in the videos is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting that I write do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions.*************

I listen to Rush Limbaugh daily. I respect his success as a broadcast entertainer — in that realm he is without peer. He is the most listened to and highest paid radio entertainer today. Before Rush came along, AM radio was on death’s doorstep. His innovative approach; combining the persona of an FM disc jockey with political punditry saved the AM band and paved the way for every high and low paid radio talker today.

Now that the niceties are out-of-the-way, when it comes to health, fitness and wellness he don’t know Jack!

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Rush Limbaugh’s comments concerning Jack LaLanne demonstrate his complete lack of intellectual or common sense insight. Those of us who promote healthy living are not impressed that Jack LaLanne existed until he was 96 years old. What is impressive is that he LIVED until he was 96 years old — a distinction that must be understood to be appreciated.

A few years ago, I wrote a newspaper column concerning my battle with obesity. I closed out the column with the following sentences:

I was asked recently that if now that I lost the weight, I thought I was going to live longer. For a moment I pondered the question then answered, “I honestly don’t know, however I do know one thing, I am living better.”

Since that column appeared, in any radio, television, newspaper or internet interview I have given, I am asked about those two sentences. It is those two sentences that Rush Limbaugh just doesn’t understand.

I don’t know Rush Limbaugh any deeper than what he allows us to glimpse. However, from the glimpses he gives, he is a man of excesses and lacks self-control. He eats to excess, he smokes to excess (formerly cigarettes, now cigars) and that excessive personality led to an unfortunate drug dependency.

His lack of self-control continues to be an impediment to truly enjoying his incredible success and wealth.

How could I make such a claim of someone I do not know? Two factors lead me to that conclusion.

One, I, as Rush Limbaugh is, was morbidly obese and two, he continues to try to lose weight.

If he were happy being obese, he would have stopped trying. The reason for Rush’s continued failure in taking care of his health, is that he does NOT embrace fitness. Everyone who has ever met me, or whom I have ever motivated has heard me say, WEIGHT LOSS IS A SIDE EFFECT OF FITNESS.

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When Jack LaLanne was Rush Limbaugh’s age, he swam the length of the Golden Gate Bridge — under water — towing one thousand pounds. By the way, he was handcuffed. What does Rush do at the age of sixty? He gets winded walking from a golf cart to his golf ball a few yards away.

Here is a simple truth of life; all living things die! There is no escaping that fate. It is how well you live that genuinely matters.

If Rush Limbaugh would like, I will take one year off from my practice and enter his employ. I will move to Florida, I will monitor his eating, I will take him through proper exercise and I will motivate him. After that year, I will have given him the greatest value for his money any person as ever received. Rather than an existence, I will give him an active, living life!.

Well Jack, death could never wreck your image. Yesterday, fellow chiropractor and fitness enthusiast, Jack LaLanne left this earth.

I know the nick-name, godfather of fitness, was most often associated with Jack LaLanne, but in my mind, along with Bernarr MacFadden and Angelo Siciliano better known as Charles Atlas, these three men made up the holy trinity of health. They were the founding fathers of the mass media fitness movement.

However, unlike the founding fathers of our country who gathered at a hall in Philadelphia, these three great men spanned different eras, and Jack spanned the globe. Atlas and LaLanne both learned either directly or indirectly from MacFadden and each went on to impact anyone who has ever broken a sweat in the name of fitness.

Jack LaLanne was a bodybuilder and one of the original visitors of muscle beach. An unhealthy, sugar addicted child he met MacFadden inspired Paul Bragg, and it was through Bragg that a young Jack was given the foundations to take control of his health. Jack used his newly found education and sought to inspire the world.

If you have ever used a leg extension or smith machine — you have Jack to thank.

If you are an athlete who utilizes weight training to excel in your chosen sport — you have Jack to thank.

If you are a woman who enjoys the benefits of exercise and weight training, yep, you guessed it — you have Jack to thank.

Jack, well, he came into our homes every morning and showed us that being fit and healthy was a goal unto itself.

Before experts complicated exercise, Jack kept it all simple. Although he owned and endorsed health clubs, he showed us how to work out at home. While medicine was searching for a panacea in a pill, Jack knew that proper nutrition combined with exercise were the only keys to good health. He, through his longevity, demonstrated how easy it was to remain fit and live a healthy life.

Dr. Jack LaLanne had a profound influence on me. It was his example I followed when I set up my simplified eating plan. It was his model I used when I designed my easy and effective exercise strategy. And, it was his inspiration I followed when I chose brevity and basics in writing my book.

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The last interview I saw was on his 95th birthday. He was spry, excited and as motivational as ever — he had a glint in his eye and a joy in his voice. I know it is unrealistic, but some people you just never expect to die, and in Jack’s case that is not so far-fetched.

His physical existence may have ceased, but because of every person who endeavors to improve their health via lifting a weight, jogging, swimming, doing a Jumping Jack, so named for him, or choosing a bowl of berries over a bowl of ice cream — Jack LaLanne will live on forever.

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Life is lived in color, but sometimes the answers remain black and white.

For over three and half years I maintained a 130 pound weight loss, then last year I lost my way and found a relapse in obesity. I am discussing my battle with recidivism.

**************The information, advice and opinions contained herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.***********

Obesity Undone, is available in both paperback and kindle versions at amazon.com

Today is a sad day for those of us who are fitness enthusiast. Anyone who has ever lifted a weight, jogged or done a jumping jack probably know the name Jack LaLanne. I just read that one of the founding fathers of fitness and fellow chiropractor Jack LaLanne has passed away. I have cited Jack LaLanne in previous writings and I will write more later today.

If you continue to peruse the article, there are also other numbers that show a disturbing trend:

Americans are gaining weight and losing health!

How could that be? American’s are exercising. They are following a low-fat diet. They are following the recommendations from the all-knowing government. We are indoctrinating school children about the best eating guide in the world… The all-powerful, all-encompassing, carbohydrate loaded, Food Pyramid. (Please kneel in reverence at this moment.)

Supposedly, we are doing everything right. So the question needs to be asked; How can America continue to get heavier and less healthy?

The answer is simple. We aren’t doing it completely and we aren’t doing it correctly. When I discuss weight management, fitness and body re-modeling I talk in threes. I discuss the three D’s, Desire, Determination and Discipline. I also discuss the three E’s Eating, Energy and Exercise. It is my strong opinion, that for successful weight management, neither of the pairs of three can be lacking.

What does that have to do with the article. Plenty. In the case of the three E’s it tends to prove my point. Perhaps U.S. Citizens are exercising more, perhaps they have the proper mental energy and are committed, but they aren’t following a proper eating plan, the result is failure.

We are bombarded by so-called experts, the government and of course the most reliable of information sources, commercials, that we need to reduce the amount of fat we take in if we are to be healthy. Fat, in all forms, is the great evil that is making Americans … fat.

So the low-fat food industry was born. Have you ever taken note of a low-fat food label? Compare it with its full fat brethren. More times than not you will notice something very interesting. The fat is replaced by carbohydrates, more specifically sugar.

I get the biggest kick out of candy products that are labeled as either low-fat or non fat foods. It is quite enticing to the low-fat followers, they can eat all the garbage they can get their hands on, because the fat content is low.

What is the result of shoveling all this low-fat, high sugar, high carbohydrate foods into one’s mouth? Fat around the belly, buttocks and back.

I am proud of the fact that I have embraced a low carbohydrate lifestyle. I feel better, I work out better and according to my recent physical exam and blood work findings, I am better on the inside.

I follow pretty much a simple rule when it comes to food. With very few exceptions and on very few occasions, I follow the father of modern fitness, fellow Chiropractor, Jack LaLanne’s advice, “If man made it, don’t eat it.”

So, if something is made or created in a factory or worse a laboratory… I don’t eat it. The more steps it takes to manufacture a food, the less likely I am to eat it. The reverse is, the more closely I can find foods in nature, the more likely I am to eat them.

Another reason to avoid man-made foods is because you simply don’t know what you are getting. Read the box… sugar is hidden under many, many pseudonyms, food colorings and preservatives that escape pronunciation are abundant and fake flavoring are added to enhance palatability. Another interesting story on the MSNBC web site was concerning pre-packaged diet foods that may contain more or less than what the label reads. What you are not told, is that those nutritional contents are averages and can vary greatly from package to package. In essence, you are getting a crap shoot if you eat these pre-packaged foods. The best way to avoid the gamble, don’t eat them.

I don’t even bother with whole grains or whole cereals. They too are nothing more than processed foods. In my lifetime, I haven’t seen many bread farms, pasta bushes or cereal trees. It takes many steps to get it from the field into the box and considering the loose labeling law guidelines — why bother?

I do consume carbohydrates. I stick to those found in nature and rarely do consume starches. I keep my carbohydrates to almost any vegetable and fruits that have a low glycemic index.

My advice. Keep it as simple as possible; shop the perimeter of the grocery store, eat plenty of good proteins, get your fiber and carbs from mother nature in the forms of seasonal fruits and veggies, shop local farmers if you can, try to get organic and animal products that are fed healthy diets, eat grass-fed beef when you can find it, avoid processed foods as much as possible and keep any refined carbohydrates away from your reach.

Turn the food pyramid upside down or better yet, use it to house break your new puppy.

Welcome to the Power of PIES. I apologize to those coming to this site looking for dessert : ) Instead, the PIES represented here is the powerful combination of Prayer, Imagination, Emotion, and Starting now. Read on, and I promise you will be impacted in a positive way. After all, life is sweet. Enjoy it!